Moving to Dallas (Plano, Garland, Richardson: city hall, to rent, how much)

[alongwayfromhome]

Hello All

This site seems to have a large number of members and I would value your opinions.....

I currently live in the England with my family. In January my work will be bring us across the water to the US and Dallas. We will be looking to rent a home for about a year. I'm trying to gather as much information as possible; currently we have been advised that areas such as Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney are good places to live. What are your thoughts?

It is likely that I will be working in downtown Dallas. Coming from the UK I'm used to traffic and commuting.... Are there a regular commutor trains from McKinney and Allen to Downtown or would I need to drive? If they exist how long do the trains take?

I have three children, aged 3, 7 and 11 so education is very important to us? Are there any schools anyone can recommend?

Many thanks in advance....

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by alongwayfromhome

Hello All

This site seems to have a large number of members and I would value your opinions.....

I currently live in the England with my family. In January my work will be bring us across the water to the US and Dallas. We will be looking to rent a home for about a year. I'm trying to gather as much information as possible; currently we have been advised that areas such as Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney are good places to live. What are your thoughts?

It is likely that I will be working in downtown Dallas. Coming from the UK I'm used to traffic and commuting.... Are there a regular commutor trains from McKinney and Allen to Downtown or would I need to drive? If they exist how long do the trains take?

I have three children, aged 3, 7 and 11 so education is very important to us? Are there any schools anyone can recommend?

Many thanks in advance....

If you're going to be working downtown, I don't recommend any of those areas. Plano is the closest to downtown of the four burbs you mentioned, and the commute from there would be hell.

Commuter trains run roughly parallel to Central Expressway (75) from downtown into Plano, but they do not run to Frisco, Allen, or McKinney. As far as I'm aware Allen and McKinney have no public transportation of any kind...I don't know about Frisco.

I would strongly urge you to consider living closer to downtown. I lived in the UK for years and commuting there is nothing like here. If you tried to commute to downtown from McKinney, count on spending 60-90 minutes in your car...each way...unless you leave the house at the crack of dawn, which with children wouldn't really be possible unless you have someone there to make sure they get to school.

[MaryS80]

There is DART Light Rail that runs from Plano to Downtown. The train makes quite a few stops along the way, so it's not terribly fast. I believe there is no DART service in Frisco, Allen, or McKinney, but you could always drive to Plano and take the Light Rail from there.

Rush hour commutes here, especially on the highways often mean bumper to bumper traffic. If there is a wreck things will stop completely, traffic congestion itself can be so bad that you move at a very slow pace.

The commute from Frisco or McKinney to downtown Dallas would be terrible. They are great cities and all, but I just can not imagine spending so much time in my car each day. Not to mention gas is hovering around $3/gallon and will probably go higher so unless you have a hybrid you will be spending a small fortune in gas.

I think you are on the right track by renting for a year before purchasing a home, that will give a feel for the area, and what your commute will be like.

I would suggest looking in Richardson, Garland, and parts of Dallas that are served by the Richardson school district.

[FarNorthDallas]

The train system is called DART and the Red Line runs from Plano (Parker Road) into downtown. It's about 50 minutes or so. DART.org - DART Rail Red Line.

Yes, those areas you mentioned are nice. They are just quite a distance from downtown Dallas.

[bookworm2768]

Congratulations on the upcoming move.
I have to agree with the posters that Allen and McKinney are very far for a commute and traffic here in rush hour can be horrendous. If you plan on taking the commuter train you can have a look at their service areas at the DART website at DART.org. There are plans to expand the rail system but things will not be ready for a while yet. The expansion map is on their site as well.
If you are looking for good schools the northern surburbs of Dallas tend to have excellent schools. You can go to a website like greatschools.com for profiles of the schools and quite a bit of detailed information. If you are looking at specialised programming you can call the office of the school district and chat with someone there about what they can or cannot offer. If you haven't visited already I would highly recommend that you do so before deciding on an area or a home to rent. There are plenty of areas in Dallas that are unsafe and, even in an excellent town, there are always areas to steer clear of. I'm guessing the same holds true of England.
Good luck!

[ACK]

Sorry, really long.
We just moved to Dallas this summer, are currently renting and exhausting ourselves answering the same questions that you have. We are prepared to buy and have yet to find the right home.

My spouse works downtown. We have no children, but do pay attention to the schools for purposes of home value and resale.

McKinney is not an option for us because of the commute.

We personally do not prefer Allen, because of its location. We have family in Frisco, use the airport frequently and do not prefer the commute on 75 which seems thicker than the Tollway, our opinion is just personal. That said, my husband works with 2 people that live in Allen and commute downtown everyday. They both live in Twin Creeks (McDermott/75) and love it there. They both had children to consider and felt strongly about their decisions to buy there and do not regret the commute (50 mins. almost consistently-really). A neighborhood called Montgomery Farm (Bethany/75) is being developed in Allen just south of Twin Creeks. Both neighborhoods have their own websites.

We are targeting Frisco. However, it is limited based on making the commute easier. The furthest north we are comfortable is a neighborhood called The Trails (northside Main Street/westside Teel). I drove from a potential house to my husband's work downtown Dallas - 33 minutes with no traffic for a total of 28.9 miles. Now, that commute can get over an hour very easily at the wrong time of day or with bad weather. We have been told that the rule of thumb is to be on the tollway by 7:00am and on your way out of downtown by 4:00pm to be close to that 33 minute commute I had midday. We also are looking at neighborhoods off Lebanon, a few miles south of Main Street, and still as far west as Teel (Starwood, Cheyenne Crossing, Lonestar Ranch, Estates on Legacy, Heritage Lakes, Lakes on Legacy, Pearson Farms, Heather Ridge Estates). If you are north of Lebanon, you will be in Frisco schools, south you will be in Lewisville schools. Frisco is currently preferred, but we tend to think it is more a long-standing perception, as Lewsiville ISD serves a few Frisco and Plano neighborhoods that have expensive homes and certainly must be stepping up to meet the demands-ask questions. My sister chose The Trails 2 years ago with schools/sense of community being the major decision. Her positive experiences getting things done with the city of Frisco are unlike any city hall with which we have had to deal.

We are targeting Plano, again close to the Tollway. Many at my husband's office commute from here. Generally speaking, anything about or west of Preston Road from the north to the south border. Our understanding is that Barksdale Elementary (west of Tollway near Plano Pkwy.) is popular and that Plano High West is preferred. Note that the area I mentioned does include parts of Plano that use Frisco schools(mostly along 121 farther east of the Tollway) and parts that use Lewisville(mostly west of Midway and north of Windhaven). Check those school boundaries to be precise, please.

We are also liking Castle Hills in Lewsiville, after much initial resistance, for the central location in the metroplex, the amenities and the maturity of the older part of the neighborhood. They have their own elementary and junior high and a high school is going to be built just outside the community. Again folks from my husband's work live here too and commute easily around 45 minutes and under.

We do live inside the loop now, but stayed in Frisco the first month. My husband did do the commute for 4 weeks, so we do know what we are getting into if we buy in Frisco. The trade off is worth it - public schools you can use through high school, less crime, more affordable homes in significantly better states of repair. Our plan is to live north of the loop in something well below what we can afford for about 3 years, and move back inside the loop, when we can afford to get into a newish complete rebuild, not update, on a nice size lot in or at the edge of the edge Park Cities.

Have you considered Coppell or Southlake?

[CMDallas]

//www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...s-suggest.html
if you're renting look in Coppell. Stay away from East Dallas and Oakcliff, those are some of the worst areas... they're getting better. Or you can send you school to North hills a charter school which got good ratings. that link i gave you is a debate. I would recommend Coppell, Plano is sort of far from downtown Dallas.

[Lakewooder]

CM - please remove my city's name from your title, it's obvious you have no respect for and little information about Dallas.

If I were working Downtown, no way would I drive two hours to live in Frisco - my high school (WWHS) 8-10 minutes away from Downtown has the same number of National Merit Semi-finalists as Frisco or McKinney.

[RichResident]

Originally Posted by alongwayfromhome

Hello All

This site seems to have a large number of members and I would value your opinions.....

I currently live in the England with my family. In January my work will be bring us across the water to the US and Dallas. We will be looking to rent a home for about a year. I'm trying to gather as much information as possible; currently we have been advised that areas such as Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney are good places to live. What are your thoughts?

That depends on what you want. The Dallas area including Collin county to the north is a diverse place. Can we ask where in England you are moving from? Is it urban, rural, or what? Do you like it? What level of urbanization are you comfortable with? How much driving are you willing to tolerate?

It is likely that I will be working in downtown Dallas. Coming from the UK I'm used to traffic and commuting.... Are there a regular commutor trains from McKinney and Allen to Downtown or would I need to drive? If they exist how long do the trains take?

Thats the problem. Allen and McKinney are not members of the are transit agency known as DART. Your commute from Allen, or Mckinney to downtown dallas would be horrible. From Frisco it would be worse.

I have three children, aged 3, 7 and 11 so education is very important to us? Are there any schools anyone can recommend?

Many thanks in advance....

I don't know what your finances are but if you have the money private schooling might be an option which then opens up your ability to live in a larger amount of areas.

RichResident

[tbone65]

Best bet would be to find a job in a DESIRABLE American city.